How do you find a house for ten or twenty thousand dollars? In three steps:

1. Find towns that are affordable.

2. Find houses you like.

3. Make an offer.

1. Affordable Towns

Altoona, Pennsyvania still had dozens of homes for sale for less than $30,00 when I checked today. The cheapest one is listed for $7,500. As the photo on our site shows, this is a cute little town, yet still big enough to have everything you need.

Hot Springs, Arkansas has houses under $20,000, the cheapest at the moment being $13,500. Alamogordo, New Mexico is a town we like a lot, and it still has homes for sale under $30,000. Independence, Kansas has really inexpensive homes. Prices start under $10,000!

2. Affordable Homes

To find houses that are for sale in these towns and others, you can look up their local newspapers online, and check out the classifieds. You can find a local real estate agent online too, and give them a call. One of the best resources, though, is probably www.Realtor.com, where you can search any town for homes listed by price, number of bedrooms, and many other criteria.

3. Buying A $10,000 House

Don't think that if you don't see homes listed for $10,000, you can't buy one. When we were living in Anaconda, Montana (where we bought a beautiful house for $17,500), we watched as a house listed for $18,000 eventually dropped to $9,900, and then was finally sold for $6,000! In towns where houses are this cheap, they often sell for much less than their initial asking price. Make an offer!